Canadian Border Conflicts

In the past two weeks, at least 10 Canadian fishing boats from New Brunswick have been intercepted by U.S. Border Patrol agents while fishing in the disputed waters around Machias Seal Island, a spokesman for the fishermen says.

Laurence Cook, chairman of the advisory board for Lobster Fishing Area 38, said Wednesday that some Canadian vessels were boarded by American agents who asked about possible illegal immigrants

..in 1998, due to Canadian laws restricting non-resident fishing, the Northwest Angle succeeded in getting a constitutional amendment introduced in Congress to let them secede from the US, since the unfavourable fishing laws drastically impacted their livelihoods. Non-Canadians fishing in Canadian waters were allowed to keep up to four walleyes, a succulent, flaky white fish revered by Minnesotans, but only if they stayed at Canadian resorts. If they stayed on the US side of Lake of the Woods they couldn’t keep anything, which hurt business for US resorts.

Minnesota countered with a bill proposing hefty fees totalling millions of dollars a year for the Canadian National Railway crossing through northern Minnesota. The Walleye War dispute was resolved by Canada rescinding the fishing laws and the US dropping the fees for the Canadian National Railway; the two countries reached an agreement on fishing limits and licensing.